Published U.S. patent application No. 2005/0072982 describes a semiconductor component of the generic type. In accordance with FIG. 1 therein, a semiconductor body is arranged on a substrate. A contact is arranged on the semiconductor body. A protective layer is furthermore provided which extends as far as to that side of the contact which is opposite to the semiconductor body, and is arranged on said side.
Changes in temperature such as occur for example when the contact is connected to a bonding wire or during operation of the semiconductor component may cause the protective layer to chip off from the contact and/or the semiconductor body on account of the often different coefficients of thermal expansion of the materials of the contact and the protective layer. Such chipping off may have an efficiency-reducing effect on the function of the semiconductor component.
The protective layer may also be caused to chip off by mechanical loading. By way of example, when a bonding wire is arranged on the contact, the protective layer may chip off from the contact and/or the semiconductor body or a cavity may form between the protective layer and the semiconductor body. The protective layer is particularly sensitive to mechanical loading on that side of the contact which is opposite to the semiconductor body and at the sidewalls of the contact.
Because of the often high difference in refractive index between air and the material of the semiconductor body, the efficiency of the semiconductor component—particularly regarding the coupling in of radiation and the coupling out of radiation—may be reduced as a result of the protective layer chipping off.
In order to produce the contact, by way of example, firstly the semiconductor body is covered with the contact material over the whole area. Said contact material is subsequently patterned by means of a conventional mask technique in the form of the contact. The protective layer is thereupon applied to the contact and the semiconductor body and, in a subsequent second mask step, the protective layer is opened in partial regions above the contact by means of a further conventional mask technique in order to enable the contact to be connected with a bonding wire.